Older conservatives who still cling to Cold War-era dogmas cannot fathom the magnitude of Charlie Kirk’s loss.
In the wake of socialist Democrat Zohran Mamdani’svictory in Tuesday’s New York City mayoral election, those conservatives would do well to take the advice of both Kirk and another young Christian martyr: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On July 21 — less than two months before his assassination — Kirk delivered MLK-like advice during a lengthy and wide-ranging conversation with fellow conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. That advice has gone viral in the hours since Mamdani’s election.
If we don’t improve the economic condition of young Americans, Mamdani and the destructive ideas he espouses will continue to spread,” Kirk wrote in a brilliant post accompanying a video of his nearly two-hour conversation with Carlson.
Then, Kirk highlighted the conservative-populist message that got President Donald Trump elected in 2024.
“When young people have faith in their own economic future, when they own homes, and when they get married and have children, they have a stake in the country. They have skin in the game. Perpetually single, childless renters are easier to radicalize by those who want to destroy Western Civilization,” Kirk added.
Finally, Kirk proposed a breathtaking solution.
“We need a moon shot, Manhattan Project-style. 10 million new homes in 3 years; 20 million deportations and self-deportations; Reform and reduce legal immigration,” he wrote.
After Mamdani’s victory, the general sentiment among Trump supporters on X is that Kirk, as usual, was right.
Indeed, Democratic victories across the board had Trump supporters bemoaning Republicans’ hyper-focus on foreign policy.
“Trump spent all year on the Middle East, his big donors loved this, the voters did not. Virginia is going to be under a Democrat super majority now. Keep listening to Mark Levin, Mr President, and you’ll be back to impeachment trials in 2026,” filmmaker Mike Cernovich wrote.
A president, of course, may walk and chew gum at the same time by bringing both peace and affordability.
Nonetheless, Trump’s Make America Great Again movement will fail in the end if the president listens to advice from Republicans who assume that mere Cold War-era platitudes about the evils of communism and the virtues of capitalism should suffice to sooth the righteous outrage of younger voters denied the American dream.
Instead, Republicans should take their cue from the late Dr. King.
In 1962, King delivered a mostly forgotten sermon, “Can a Christian Be a Communist?”
The answer, of course, was no. But King went beyond that obvious fact by urging Christians to address the problems that attract people to communism’s lies.
